The sound of flesh and blood splattering.
The spirit crocodile’s head was brutally severed by the spiritual light in Mu Yunjin’s hand, while simultaneously, the red phoenix spewed a burst of fierce flames at the other half of the spirit crocodile’s body…
Mu Yunjin flew back and stood firmly on the ground, extending her hand to steadily catch the spirit crocodile’s head…
…
On the other side, the ink qilin was equally formidable.
Its sharp claws repeatedly slashed through the air with cold, fierce gleams, driving the deep green spirit crocodile toward a desperate situation with thunderous force!
The ink qilin was an ancient divine beast, with a ferocious and majestic aura.
The deep green spirit crocodile continuously retreated, intending to return to the deep lake, but the ink qilin had already moved one step ahead, spewing cold light from its mouth to freeze the lake’s surface.
The ink qilin was naturally of the cold element, opposite to the red phoenix—one ice, one fire, two extremes.
…
…
“Roar…” The ink qilin paused its steps, seeing that the deep green spirit crocodile had been retreating all along, and provocatively roared at it.
“Gurgle…” The deep green spirit crocodile returned the call.
Suddenly, hearing the killing sound from nearby, the deep green spirit crocodile glanced to the side, then abruptly stomped its foot, causing the entire stone chamber to shake violently.
“Gurgle…” The deep red and deep green spirit crocodiles had been companions for hundreds of years. Now, seeing that the deep red spirit crocodile had lost its life, it harbored the emotion of perishing together with everyone.
With its stomping and wailing, several pillars in the stone chamber collapsed with a crash, cracks gradually appeared in the surrounding walls, and fine sand rolled down. The entire stone chamber gradually became a mess.
“This is bad, I fear this place is about to collapse!” Qiqi raised her hand to block the falling debris from above and spoke to those beside her.
“What should we do? We still haven’t obtained the crocodile’s eyeball…” Qu Xinyao hesitated a bit.
Nearby, Chu Li glanced at the crowd behind him, “You all go out first!”
“Your Highness…” Ding Xian was stunned for a moment.
As they spoke, the stone chamber shook more violently, and more and more debris fell, yet no one moved to leave.
“Roar!” The ink qilin howled and pounced toward the spirit crocodile…
Nearby, Chu Li, seeing the timing was right, soared up. His eyes slightly narrowed, and an ice-blue light emanated from his palm, forming a giant ice ball that surrounded the deep green spirit crocodile’s phantom form.
With the phantom trapped in the ice ball, Chu Li sent out an ice vine from his palm, wrapping it around the spirit crocodile’s neck and violently breaking it…
…
The shaking of the stone chamber stopped.
Everyone steadied their nerves, walked forward a few steps, and tentatively spoke, “This time, they’re truly dead, right?”
Nearby, Mu Yunjin, holding the deep red spirit crocodile’s head, walked over. While the ink qilin was confronting the deep green spirit crocodile earlier, she had pondered for a while, and suddenly recalled some events.
One was when she was severely wounded by Qiuye at Clear Wind Mountain, and the fire phoenix suddenly appeared to save her…
Another was at Prince Chu Ye’s investiture ceremony, when she was pressured by everyone, and finally summoned the fire phoenix, which bit Chu Qingqiang to death…
Strangely, she had no recollection of these two events before.
So…
Was she the Phoenix Lady that Qiuye had spoken of?
“Chu Li…” Mu Yunjin looked at the deep green spirit crocodile’s head being carried over in the ink qilin’s mouth, and stepped closer to Chu Li.
Chu Li glanced at Mu Yunjin, saw that she had regained her senses, and wiped off the blood splattered on her cheek, curving his lips into a slight smile.
“It’s over…”
The fierce battle was finally over.
“We won!” Qiqi and the others let out cheers of joy. They had spent nearly a day and a night, almost breaking their nerves.
Fortunately, they had finally succeeded.
“Let’s remove their eyeballs first, then form the crocodile pearls.” Huang Yan was somewhat excited. Those two monsters had given them a hard time, and now their heads had been cut off, though they still looked a bit frightening.
After the ink qilin put down the deep green spirit crocodile’s head, Chu Li bent down and opened its left eyelid, indeed finding a green pearl embedded in its eyeball.
Chu Li removed the green pearl and examined it in his palm.
Nearby, Mu Yunjin’s eyes lit up. She bent down, placed the deep red spirit crocodile’s head on the ground, and opened its right eyelid. The next second, her smile froze on her face—
There was no pearl!
The others had not fully anticipated this scene either. Seeing only the white of the eye without a pearl in the deep red spirit crocodile, they all widened their mouths in surprise.
“What’s going on? Where’s the pearl?”
“Did it fall somewhere earlier? Let’s look for it!”
“Why is there no eyeball in this spirit crocodile’s eye?”
Everyone searched around but couldn’t find the whereabouts of the other pearl.
Mu Yunjin bit her lip and glanced at Chu Li, “Chu Li, this…”
Chu Li’s eyes flickered, his gaze fixed unblinkingly on the deep red spirit crocodile’s eye socket. When he removed the deep green spirit crocodile’s eyeball earlier, he had used considerable force; this pearl definitely could not have fallen out on its own…
The only explanation was—
“I fear someone has already taken it.”
As Chu Li finished speaking, the stone door of the chamber suddenly opened, accompanied by a burst of laughter—
“Hahaha, Prince Ning, you’re indeed a perceptive person!”
Black-robed Feng Lan and Daoist Qiuye slowly entered the stone chamber. Upon entering, their gazes first fell on the spirit crocodile heads on the ground, then surveyed the messy surroundings.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, truly the young are to be feared. These two spirit crocodiles were extremely ferocious, yet they still met their end at your hands!” Feng Lan clicked his tongue repeatedly, and his eyes revealed a hint of amazement.
Mu Yunjin gritted her teeth, finally understanding why the black-robed group had left so readily at the suspension bridge earlier…
So, this was his trump card!
“The other pearl is with you?” Mu Yunjin spoke coldly.
Hearing this, Feng Lan shook his head lightly, the corner of his lips revealing a bloodthirsty and playful smile, “No, not with me!”
“Shuang’er…” Feng Lan glanced to the side, looking toward Yun Shuangleng standing nearby.
Everyone froze, turning to look at Yun Shuangleng standing to the side, watching in disbelief as she walked step by step toward the black-robed figure.
Mu Yunjin and Chu Li exchanged glances, their hands tightly clenched.
Yun Shuangleng walked to the front of the black-robed figure, bowed slightly to him, and respectfully said, “Master…”
Master…
They were in the same group?!
“Yun Shuangleng, you despicable woman! How dare you play us!” Qiqi cursed aloud. They had been deceived by her obedient appearance all along, never expecting that she was Feng Lan’s person!
Yun Shuangleng ignored the angry expressions of the crowd opposite her, extended her right hand, and gradually opened her tightly closed fist…
A dark red pearl appeared!
Feng Lan took the pearl from her hand and laughed with delight again, “You never dreamed that after killing two spirit crocodiles at the risk of your lives, you would only get one pearl, did you?”
“Mu Yunjin, without the two pearls being merged, your life won’t last much longer!” Feng Lan said.
Mu Yunjin folded her arms, and although her heart surged with waves of emotion, her expression remained as cold as frost. Her clear eyes swept over Yun Shuangleng, recalling how she had cried and knelt, begging her and Chu Li that day in the palace…
Heh.
What an actress!
“State your conditions!” Chu Li glanced calmly at Feng Lan, his eyes as cold as ice.
“I never imagined that one day, Prince Ning would humble himself to negotiate terms with us.” Qiuye couldn’t help but laugh.
Nearby, Yun Shuangleng stood behind Feng Lan, her face calm, showing no ripples of emotion. Everything happening around her seemed unrelated to her at this moment.
“This pearl has been in Shuang’er’s hands for over a year now, thanks to that lad Feng Che, who secretly brought her to Ghost Valley Cave. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be facing this situation today.” Feng Lan played with the pearl in his palm.
When Yun Shuangleng heard the name Feng Che, her eyes darkened.
The black-robed figure turned to look at Yun Shuangleng and spoke softly, “Don’t worry, after today, I will remove the Cursed Spirit Death Technique from Feng Lan’s body and let him wake up to accompany you…”
A flash of joy passed through Yun Shuangleng’s calm pupils.
…
Mu Yunjin frowned as she listened to their conversation. From Yun Shuangleng’s stance, it seemed she was being used by the black-robed figure for Feng Che’s sake.
“The condition is very simple…” Qiuye spoke promptly, “A life for a life. As long as Prince Ning takes his own life on the spot, the other pearl will belong to the Prince’s consort.”
Everyone was stunned.
“You’re talking bullshit!” Mu Yunjin instantly became furious, her face boiling with killing intent, “You stinking old dog, I’ll kill all of you first!”
As she spoke, Mu Yunjin had already swung her whip toward Daoist Qiuye.
Before the whip could fall, it was already caught by someone’s hand.
Chu Li, holding Mu Yunjin’s whip that was about to fall, glanced at her and slightly furrowed his brows, “Afraid to dirty your hands?”
“…” Mu Yunjin was stunned.
Chu Li turned his gaze back, his eyes clear and shallow, the corner of his lips gradually curving into a cold smile as he looked at Feng Lan, “You all seem to have forgotten one thing…”
“What thing?” Feng Lan spoke languidly.
“Some people have yet to arrive…”
As Chu Li finished speaking, outside the stone door, a voice filled with helplessness suddenly rang out, “Aiya, sorry, I’m late, I’m late…”
“Hey, what’s wrong with that fellow Feng Xuan, lying there motionless?”
“Oh my goodness, this crocodile’s head is so big, I wonder if it would be nutritious to make soup with it?”
Master An entered the stone door with leisurely steps. Upon entering, he uttered many exclamations about the surrounding scenery.
“Who could it be? Turns out it’s Master Kongshi!” Feng Lan had initially felt a jolt in his heart upon hearing Chu Li’s words, but now seeing who had arrived, his heart relaxed a little.
Hearing this, Master An scratched his head and spoke to Chu Li and Mu Yunjin, “By the way, I just checked the black-robed one’s secret chamber, there is an ice bed with a man lying on it…”
“Just now I heard Feng Lan outside talking about some Cursed Spirit Death Technique… hahaha, it’s hilarious… girl, do you know what that mysteriously named thing is?” Master An looked at Mu Yunjin.
Mu Yunjin shook her head, completely confused.
“It’s just hypnosis! Here they call hypnosis the Cursed Spirit Death Technique, making it sound like some evil cult. Isn’t that ridiculous?”
“Damn? Hahaha!”